Olesia Novikova and Friedemann Vogel in Raymonda from La Scala… Live (-ish)

The reconstructed ballet Raymonda, that debuted earlier this month at Milan's La Scala, will be broadcast this evening at 21.30 on Rai5 in a delayed broadcast. Whether the hour and a half difference is to allow a tripping ballerina the chance to have another go has not been explained.

This is a mega-ballet with the full corps, 70 children from the La Scala ballet school, spear-carriers, over five hundred costumes, and an on-stage band. The Mariinsky's Olesya Novikova and Stuttgart's Friedemann Vogel dance the roles of Raymonda and Jean de Brienne.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.